Very Best of Elvis Costello

Producers include: Nick Lowe, Geoff Emerick, Elvis Costello, Mitchell Froom, Clive Langer.
Recorded between 1976 and 1999.
It's no small task to summarize the career of Elvis Costello on two discs. Not only did he define New Wave in the late 1970s and early '80s, along the way he ventured into everything from jazz balladry to honky-tonk country and Stax-style R&B. THE VERY BEST OF does a credible job of capturing the mercurial songsmith's many moods. His punk-goes-to-college Angry Young Man phase is well represented ("Radio Radio," "Pump It Up," et al), and his expansion into more sophisticated pop realms is covered as well ("Accidents Will Happen").
EC's fondness for soul can be discerned in a number of tunes, including the Smokey Robinson-like "Everyday I Write the Book," and his status as reigning champ of the knockout love song is assured by the inescapably poignant "Alison." In between such classics, there are a host of tracks that are lesser known but no less impressive, showing that Costello was always as prolific as he was powerful. This collection differs from the similarly titled single-disc anthology on Rykodisc in that it goes on to encompass Costello's Warner Brothers years, which entail everything from impossibly catchy Paul McCartney collaborations ("Veronica," "So Like Candy") to the piano-led lieder-pop of "I Want to Vanish."